A wide variety of low voltage components such as telephone cables, coax cables for television and internet service, wiring for home entertainment systems and surround sound, and cables for connecting computers to peripherals such as printers and facsimile machines, are prevalent in today's homes and offices. Frequently it is necessary to route these low voltage wires and cables through interior walls in order to connect low voltage components in separate rooms.
In some cases, holes are simply made in the baseboard or walls and low voltage cables are simply routed through the holes. However, this is an unsightly solution and detracts from the overall appearance of the building. One prior art device for routing low voltage components is that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,747 to Helmsdorfer, et al., issued on Aug. 25, 1987, which includes a wall aperture molding with a removable plate cover. The plate cover clips to the molding plate with the plate cover extending downwardly and outwardly from the molding plate to define a cable passage between the lower edge of the plate cover and the molding plate. The molding plate may be further provided with a gate slot to provide installation over pre-existing cables.
However, one disadvantage with prior art wall aperture moldings such as that described above is that they are not complementary with wall openings prepared for conventional electrical devices. Therefore, in order to install the prior art molding plate, a hole must be made specifically sized for the molding plate. A further disadvantage with the aperture molding described above is that it is limited to one orientation with respect to the molding plate, which orientation includes the plate cover extending outward from the plate and wall. There is no arrangement for mounting the plate cover such that it extends into the wall.
Although the parent patent application Ser. Nos. 12/011,162, 12/075,326, and 12/082,030 provided several protective cable chutes for routing low voltage wires through interior walls, the cable chutes were for use with an electrical box or low voltage frame mounted in the standard vertical orientation. Frequently the electrical box or low voltage frame is mounted on a wall in a horizontal orientation. The current invention therefore provides two embodiments of a reversible protective cable chute for use with a horizontally mounted electrical box or low voltage frame. The reversible protective cable chute may be used with conventional electrical boxes or conventional low voltage frames for the purpose of providing an aesthetically attractive portal for routing low voltage cables through walls.